1987 Oct 15, In Burkina Faso
Thomas Sankara (b.1949) was overthrown and assassinated in a coup
d'état led by the French-backed Blaise Compaoré (b.1951), who had
trained in Gadhafi's guerrilla camps. Libya and Burkina Faso later
denied repeated accusations of gunrunning to West Africa hot spots.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Compaor%C3%A9)(SFC, 2/19/00,
p.A10)(AP, 12/16/02)

1996 Apr 27, A Dutch diplomat,
Arnold Eisma, his wife and two children died of dehydration after
becoming stranded in the remote Pama national park.
(SFC, 5/3/96, A-10)

1996 Dec 5, An African Summit
opened in Burkina Faso. New candidates for the position of UN
Secretary-general were to be considered.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A1)

1997 The film "Kini &
Adams" was by Idrissa Ouedraogo of Burkino Faso.
(SFC, 9/10/97, p.E3)

1997 The Burkina Faso-French
film "Buud Yam" was the Grand Prize winner at the 1997 Pan-African
Film Festival.
(SFEM, 9/28/97, p.17)

1998 Jan, In Burkina Faso David
Ouedraogo, the chauffeur for Francois Compaore, brother of Pres.
Compaore, died from torture injuries inflicted by 2 bodyguards of
Pres. Compaore. Ouedraogo was suspected of stealing $31,000 from
Francois. In 2000 the 2 bodyguards were convicted and sentenced to
20 years in prison.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A10)

1998 Sep 16, The UN announced
that the treaty to eliminate anti-personnel land mines will take
effect in 6 months. Burkino Faso became the 40th country to ratify
the pact.
(SFC, 9/17/98, p.C4)

1998 Nov 30, Britain along with
Lesotho, Burkino Faso, the Ivory Coast and Tajikistan signed a
global treaty for an Int’l. Criminal Court to try war crimes. The
accord was approved in July at conference in Rome and 61 countries
had signed on. The court required 60 countries to pass legislation
for ratification.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A11)

1998 Dec 13, In Burkina Faso
Norbet Zongo, a prominent journalist and presidential critic, was
found dead in the wreckage of his burned car along with 2 cousins
and a chauffeur in Ouagadougou. His death prompted thousands to take
to the streets accusing Pres. Blaise Compaore’s government of
involvement. Zongo was killed with his brother and 2 others. Zongo
had inquired into the arrest and death of a driver, David Ouedraogo,
to Francois Compaore, the brother of the president and "head of
mission to the presidency." Ouedraogo was accused of stealing
$50,000. [see Jan 1998]
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C3)(SFC, 2/19/00,
p.A10)

2000 Mar, Pres. Blaise Compaore
of Burkina Faso and Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo were reported to have
helped Jonas Savimbi of UNITA obtain arms and fuel in exchange for
diamonds.
(SFC, 4/19/00, p.A12)

2000 Burkina Faso amended its
constitution to allow the president to serve two terms. Pres.
Compaore made it effective as of 2005.
(Econ, 11/27/10, p.58)
2000 In Burkina Faso Salibo
Some (43) created the Africa’s Sustainable Development Council
(ASUDEC) to help lift villagers out of poverty.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.K8)

2000 Jul 31, US and British
diplomats accused the Pres. Charles Taylor of Liberia and Pres.
Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso of trading arms for diamonds and
aiding the rebels in Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A8)

2001 Jan 19, Thousands of
people fled the Ivory Coast for Burkino Faso to escape attacks on
foreigners. As many as 10,000 were arriving each week and others
were fleeing to Mali, Ghana and Niger.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A14)

2001 Apr 26, It was reported
that a meningitis outbreak had killed at least 3,500 people in
Africa and that vaccine had been shipped to Ethiopia and Burkina
Faso.
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A14)

2001 Nov 2, It was reported
that Ibrahim Bah, a Libyan-trained former Senegalese rebel, lived in
Burkina Faso and selected diamond dealers to handle deals in Liberia
between rebels from Sierra Leone and the al Qaeda network.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.A8)

2002 Feb, The W135 strain of
meningitis from the Middle East was identified for the 1st time in
Africa in Burkina Faso and by Sep some 12,000 people were infected
with 1,500 deaths.
(SFC, 9/20/02, p.A12)

2002 Jun 11, Burkina Faso
President Blaise Compaore tightened his grip on power, throwing out
all nine opposition ministers from his Cabinet and cutting the
number of posts from 36 to 31.
(AP, 6/12/02)

2002 French president Jacques
Chirac received three million euros ($4 million) from Ivory Coast's
Laurent Gbagbo to finance his electoral campaign. This was made
public in 2011 by Robert Bourgi, a lawyer with a network of African
contacts who advised Chirac before changing camps in 2005 to aid
French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bourgi also named Senegal's
Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, and
Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso and Gabon's Omar Bongo as
contributors. Bourgi later said he was mistaken concerning
(Senegal's president) Abdoulaye Wade and his son" Karim Wade.
(AFP, 9/12/11)(AP, 9/26/11)

2005 Jun 1, Burkina Faso
President Blaise Compaore opened the 7th summit of Sahel and Sahara
countries, spurring the 21-member body to take a decisive role in
shaping globalization.
(AFP, 6/2/05)

2005 In Burkina Faso the TV
sitcom “Le Nouveau Roymaume d’Abou" captivated Saturday night
audiences. It focused on a good Muslim with 2 wives and numerous
children fighting for his and each other’s attention. The literacy
rate in the country was 12.7%.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.90)
2005 The population of Burkina
Faso was about 12 million.
(Econ, 9/17/05, p.77)

2006 Mar 22, A ferry carrying
150 passengers sank off the coast of Cameroon, and 23 people were
rescued. The rest were feared dead. The was bound for Gabon from
Nigeria with passengers from Burkina Faso, Nigeria and the Ivory
Coast.
(AP, 3/23/06)(SFC, 3/24/06, p.A12)

2006 Burkina Faso sent almost a
third of its exports, mostly cotton, to China.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.54)

2007 Feb 24, In Burkina Faso
the Fespaco film festival began. Hundreds of films made by Africans
and people of African descent competed for the Yennenga stallion, a
golden statue of a prancing horse.
(Econ, 3/3/07, p.54)

2007 Mar 4, Ivory Coast's Pres.
Laurent Gbagbo signed a peace accord with Guillaume Soro, the
country's main rebel leader, calling for a new government to hold
elections by the year's end, and for the dismantling of a vast
buffer zone separating the two sides. The latest deal is the result
of meetings between the two camps that started in early February
under the oversight of Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore.
(AP, 3/4/07)

2007 Mar 23, The United Nations
said nearly 800 people have died after a meningitis epidemic spread
from Burkina Faso to eight other western African countries since the
start of the year. Benin, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger,
Nigeria and Togo have also been affected to differing degrees.
(AFP, 3/23/07)

2007 Jul 12, Burkina Faso and
Taiwan renewed a commitment to boost their diplomatic ties during a
visit to the west African nation by Taiwan's Foreign Minister James
Huang.
(AP, 7/13/07)

2007 Nov 27, International
experts convened in Burkina Faso for a three day session to
discuss the prospects for biofuel production in Africa. The
conference was organized by the International Institute for Water
and Environmental Engineering and CIRAD, the French agricultural
research centre international development. Co-organizers included
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West
African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the government of
Burkina Faso.
(AFP, 11/26/07)

2008 Jan 17, In Burkina Faso
leaders of half a dozen African countries agreed on Ivory Coast's
Philippe-Henri Tacoury-Tabley as the new head of the central bank of
the eight-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
(AFP, 1/17/08)

2008 Jan 30, The United
Nation's disaster relief agency announced that a meningitis outbreak
that has claimed some 52 lives in Burkina Faso by mid-month has
spread to three other west African countries. A spike in the number
of meningitis cases has also been reported in Mali, Niger and
Nigeria since the end of 2007.
(AFP, 1/31/08)

2008 Feb 21, In Burkina Faso
some 200 people were arrested following a 2-day protest against
rising living costs which ended in violent clashes.
(AFP, 2/26/08)

2008 Oct 13, First ladies from
seven west African countries gather in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,
for a conference on ways to end female circumcision, a widespread
practice in the region despite efforts to end it.
(AFP, 10/13/08)

2008 Nov 15, In the West
African nation Burkina Faso a collision between a passenger bus and
a truck killed more than 60 people.
(AP, 11/15/08)

2009 Feb 27, The UN Children's
Fund said 53 million children are being targeted by a mass
immunization drive against polio in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo. Some 844 polio cases were
reported in the 8 countries in 2008, 95% of them in Nigeria.
(AFP, 2/27/09)

2009 Apr 17, In Burkina Faso a
meeting of economy and finance ministers of 14 African nations, all
using a common currency that was pegged to the French franc, started
with a French call to African nations to boost public spending.
(AFP, 4/17/09)

2009 Sep 2, In Burkina Faso 5
people were killed and 150,000 left homeless as heavy rainfall
triggered flooding across West Africa.
(Reuters, 9/2/09)

2009 Sep 22, The UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced that flash floods
and lighting have claimed 187 lives and affected 635,273 people in
west Africa since the rainy season started in June. This included
103 dead in Sierra Leone, followed by Ghana (24), Mali (20), Ivory
Coast (19), Burkina Faso (8), Niger (7) and Senegal (6).
(AFP, 9/22/09)

2009 Oct 9, Burkina Faso's
environment minister, at the opening of a special forum on climate
change, said Africa needs 65 billion dollars (44 billion euros) to
deal with the effects of global warming.
(AFP, 10/9/09)

2009 Dec 13, In Burkina Faso
diplomats from the US, the African Union and the EU, met to discuss
a plan to return Guinea to civilian rule. West Africa's regional
economic body called for troops to be sent to Guinea to prevent
violence in the wake of an assassination attempt against the
military leader earlier this month and a bloody massacre in
September.
(AP, 12/13/09)

2010 Jan 12, Guinea's wounded
junta leader, Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara, arrived in Burkina Faso
from Morocco to recuperate after last month's assassination attempt.
One of his top opponents said the surprise move could help him avoid
prosecution.
(AP, 1/13/10)

2010 Jan 17, In Burkina Faso
Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara, Guinea's exiled leader, appealed for
tolerance and reconciliation after he agreed to resign and remain in
exile following a tumultuous one-year rule that culminated in a
December assassination attempt.
(AP, 1/17/10)

2010 Apr 22, In Burkina Faso
Health Minister Seydou Bouda said a strain of meningitis, called X,
has killed 718 people out of 5,118 cases in the West African country
since January.
(AP, 4/23/10)

2010 Jul 9, Aid agency Oxfam
warned that the food crisis gripping the Sahel region of Africa was
reaching disastrous levels and called on governments and the
international community to act now. The crisis stretched across the
region taking in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and northern
Nigeria.
(AFP, 7/9/10)

2010 Sep 10, Ghana officials
said 17 people have died after neighboring Burkina Faso opened the
Bagre Dam's spillways that was filling amid heavy rains. Officials
in Burkina Faso announced in August they would open the spillways
and warned people.
(AP, 9/10/10)

2010 Oct 19, The UN said that
377 people had died in flooding in central and west Africa, with
nearly 1.5 million people affected since the start of the rainy
season in June. The highest toll was in Nigeria with 118, followed
by Ghana (52), Sudan (50), Benin (43), Chad (24), Mauritania (21),
Burkina Faso (16), Cameroon (13), Gambia (12), with other countries
reporting less than 10 dead.
(AFP, 10/19/10)

2010 Nov 21, Burkina Faso held
presidential elections. President Blaise Compaore (59), a former
army captain, was expected to win as he faced an opposition so
divided it could not mount a unified campaign to fight him
effectively at the polls. State media suggested Compaore won at
least 80% of the peaceful vote.
(AP, 11/21/10)(Econ, 11/27/10, p.58)

2011 Jan 18, A Luxembourg
official said the country will invest a large sum in Burkina Faso to
help alleviate poverty in the landlocked West African nation.
(AP, 1/18/11)

2011 Feb 20, In Burkina Faso
Justin Zongo died while in police custody. The student's death
sparked months of protests that left at least six dead. In August
three policemen faced charges of aggravated assault related to his
death.
(http://brittanyinburkina.blogspot.com/2011/03/7h30.html)(AP,
8/23/11)

2011 Apr 15, Burkina Faso
soldiers shot into the air, stole cars and looted shops in the
western and central parts of the capital, Ouagadougou, as protests
by military guards against unpaid housing allowances spread.
(AP, 4/15/11)

2011 Apr 16, Burkina Faso
police in the capital fired tear gas on thousands of angry merchants
protesting a second night of looting by soldiers, the latest of
several recent episodes of unrest in the small West African nation.
(AP, 4/16/11)

2011 Apr 18, In Burkina Faso
students burned down the ruling party headquarters and the prime
minister’s house in Koudougou as a soldier’s mutiny spread.
(SFC, 4/19/11, p.A2)

2011 Apr 19, In Burkina Faso
Gen. Nabere Honore Traore, the recently appointed army chief, said
that the new government will work to resolve the issues behind the
military unrest that has plagued the country since last week.
(AP, 4/19/11)

2011 Apr 21, Burkina Faso’s
President Blaise Compaore announced he will remain president and
named himself as defense minister, becoming a member of his
29-member cabinet.
(AP, 4/22/11)

2011 Apr 30, Police in Burkina
Faso said they will end their demonstrations. Some 1,000
demonstrators rallied in the capital to demand the departure of
Pres. Blaise Compaore.
(AP, 4/30/11)(SSFC, 5/1/11, p.A6)

2011 May 6, In Togo 26 people
died after their bus crashed. The victims were mainly merchants from
Burkina Faso who were traveling to the Togolese capital for
business.
(AP, 5/6/11)

2011 May 16, Ivory Coast's
President Alassane Ouattara told citizens of Burkina Faso that they
are welcome to return to his country, and vowed to put an end to the
xenophobia and racial targeting that characterized his predecessor's
regime.
(AP, 5/16/11)

2011 May 23, In Burkina Faso
thousands of students took to the streets of the capital burning
tires and chanting in support of teachers who are demanding better
conditions.
(AP, 5/23/11)

2011 Jun 2, Burkina Faso
soldiers were looting and shooting for a 2nd at a major military
barracks in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso’s second-largest city,
provoking demonstrations.
(AP, 6/2/11)

2011 Jun 3, In Burkina Faso at
least seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, were killed during
a mutiny by soldiers in Bobo-Dioulasso, the country’s second-largest
city.
(AP, 6/4/11)

2011 Jul 14, Burkina Faso's
army chief of staff, Nabere Honore Traore, said the military has
discharged 566 soldiers following a wave of mutinies that swept
across the country earlier this year.
(AFP, 7/15/11)

2011 Sep 10, Leaders of Ivory
Coast and Liberia were joined by counterparts from West Africa for
talks on security along the border between their two countries after
a bloody post-poll crisis. Presidents Alassane Ouattara and Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf were joined by Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso,
Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, John Atta Mills of Ghana and Nigerian
summit host Goodluck Jonathan, under the aegis of regional bloc
ECOWAS.
(AFP, 9/10/11)

2011 Nov 18, The European
Commission said an extra 10 million euros ($13.5 million) in
humanitarian funding will go on addressing "major shortfalls" in
food in the Sahel region. The crisis is affecting 7 million people
in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
(AFP, 11/19/11)

2012 Jan 2, Burkina Faso's
president fired the country's customs chief after his detention over
the seizure of nearly three million euros ($3.8 million) in trunks
carried by a relative.
(AFP, 1/2/12)

2012 Feb 6, A Burkina Faso
security official said more than 1,500 Malians, fleeing a Tuareg
rebellion in the north and reprisal attacks in Bamako, have found
refuge in Burkina Faso.
(AFP, 2/6/12)

2012 Feb 16, The mediation and
security council of the West African regional group ECOWAS approved
humanitarian aid of three million dollars for victims of the food
crisis and rebel attacks in the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania, Niger).
(AFP, 2/16/12)

2012 Apr 10, UN children's aid
organization UNICEF led a cross-agency appeal for funds for the
Sahel region (parts of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and
Niger) where 15 million are suffering from malnutrition.
(AFP, 4/10/12)

2012 Apr 14, Burkina Faso Pres.
Blaise Compaore opened talks as mediator with the military junta
that briefly seized power in Mali last month and Malian politicians
trying to navigate a way out of the crisis.
(AFP, 4/14/12)

2012 Apr 27, The UN food agency
appealed to oil- and mineral-rich nations to set up a fund to combat
the food crisis gripping the Sahel desert region (Chad, Mali,
Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger) and other parts of Africa. The
group said it needed $110 million (83 million euros) to combat the
crisis in the short term.
(AFP, 4/27/12)

2012 May 12, Ivory Coast and
Burkina Faso envoys of ECOWAS quit Mali after failing to reach
agreement with coup leaders on naming the head of a transitional
government. The ex-junta now hoped that coup leader Amadou Haya
Sanago take over as interim leader.
(AFP, 5/12/12)

2012 May 22, On the border
between Burkina Faso and Mali clashes broke out between the Peul
herders and Dogon farmers. At least 30 people were killed in the
clashes over land rights.
(SFC, 5/25/12, p.A2)

2012 May 26, In Burkina Faso
several thousand people protested across the poor west African
country to denounce a steep spike in the prices of basic food items
and petrol.
(AFP, 5/26/12)

2012 May 31, The Geneva-based
office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says it now needs
$153.7 million for its operations this year, quadrupling its aid
appeal for Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
(AP, 5/31/12)

2012 Jul 7, In Burkina Faso
West African presidents (ECOWAS) met with civil leaders from Mali in
a bid to secure a national unity government to tackle a crisis in
the north where Islamists have enforced Sharia law.
(AFP, 7/7/12)

2012 Sep 3, In Burundi Aloys
Nzabampema, ex-leader of the former rebel National Liberation
Forces, claimed responsibility for a weekend attack near the capital
and announced the creation of a new FNL faction.
(AFP, 9/3/12)

2012 Nov 3, In Burkina Faso
representatives of an al-Qaida-linked group that controls northern
Mali arrived for talks with President Blaise Compaore, who is trying
to mediate a solution to the conflict in the west African nation. A
second delegation traveled to Algeria for talks with regional
leaders there.
(AP, 11/3/12)

2012 Dec 4, Tuareg rebels of
northern Mali agreed to stop pursuing a separate state during talks
with Mali’s government in Burkina Faso.
(SFC, 12/5/12, p.A2)

2013 May 7, Soldiers from Mali
and Burkina Faso pushed into the village of Ber, 50 km (30 miles)
northeast of Timbuktu. It had previously been occupied by fighters
from a Tuareg rebel group, the National Movement for the Liberation
of the Azawad (NMLA).
(AP, 5/7/13)

2013 Jun 18, Mali, which lost
half its territory last year to rebels, signed an accord with Tuareg
separatists who still control the country's northernmost province.
The agreement was signed in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina
Faso, where the two sides have been holding talks.
(AP, 6/18/13)

2013 Jul 28, In Burkina Faso
thousands of protesters marched through the capital decrying a
perceived attempt by President Blaise Compaore to extend his hold on
power through the creation of a new Senate.
(AP, 7/28/13)

2013 Aug 2, Burkina Faso police
said that two officers were seriously wounded in the unrest on
campuses in Ouagadougou this week. The violence began after
university officials told students to vacate their dormitories at
the end of July and they refused.
(AP, 8/2/13)

2013 Sep 12, Burkina Faso's
government said it's lowering taxes for civil servants and
increasing student loans amid growing unrest over the high cost of
education and living.
(AP, 9/12/13)

2014 Jan 5, In Burkina Faso 75
officials announced their resignation from the ruling party,
ratcheting up political tension before elections scheduled for next
year. They said democracy had "disappeared" from President Blaise
Compaore's Congress for Democracy and Progress party.
(AP, 1/6/14)

2014 Jan 18, Burkina Faso's
opposition staged the country's biggest demonstration in decades to
protest against an attempt by President Blaise Compaore's party to
abolish constitutional term limits.
(Reuters, 1/18/14)

2014 Jan 21, France said it
will create new outposts and broaden its military presence in
Africa's turbulent Sahel region to better fight the terror threat
from extremist groups like al-Qaida. Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le
Drian said France is moving toward a regional counterterrorism
approach in former colonies like Chad, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso,
Niger and Mali.
(AP, 1/21/14)

2014 Jul 24, Air Algerie Flight
5017 carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria's capital
disappeared from radar early today over northern Mali after heavy
rains were reported. Air navigation services lost track of the MD-83
about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou.
(AP, 7/24/14)

2014 Oct 28, Burkina Faso
police used tear gas to disperse an opposition protest in the
capital, as tensions increase ahead of a vote this week on whether
the country's longtime president can seek another term.
(AP, 10/28/14)

2014 Oct 30, In Burkina Faso
thousands of protesters marched on the presidential palace after
burning the parliament building and ransacking state television
offices, forcing President Blaise Compaore to scrap a plan to extend
his 27-year rule. At least 3 protesters were shot dead and several
others wounded by security forces when the crowd tried to storm the
home of Compaore's brother.
(Reuters, 10/30/14)

2014 Oct 31, Burkina Faso
President Blaise Compaore announced his resignation in a statement
and called for a 90-day transition to "free and transparent"
elections in the West African country. General Honore Traore said
that he had taken charge. Compaore fled with his family in a heavily
armed convoy to Ivory Coast amid violent protests seeking his
ouster.
(Reuters, 10/31/14)(AP, 11/2/14)(Econ, 11/8/14,
p.52)

2014 Nov 1, In Burkina Faso two
different military officials had declared themselves in charge
before the army confirmed that Lt. Col. Isaac Yacouba Zida was the
transitional leader.
(AP, 11/2/14)

2014 Nov 2, In Burkina Faso
gunfire erupted outside the headquarters of state television as an
opposition politician tried to announce she was in control of the
West African country that was plunged into chaos days earlier after
the president was forced out. The army took over the national
television headquarters. At least one protester was shot dead.
(AP, 11/2/14)(AFP, 11/2/14)(Econ, 11/8/14, p.52)

2014 Nov 15, Burkina Faso’s
military reinstated the constitution, suspended when the army filled
the vacuum created by Pres. Compaore's departure.
(AP, 11/16/14)

2014 Nov 17, In Burkina Faso
career diplomat Michel Kafando was named interim president to steer
the west African nation during a one-year transition back to
civilian rule following the toppling of its veteran leader.
(AFP, 11/17/14)

2014 Nov 19, Burkina Faso's
transitional government named Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida as prime
minister, four days after he restored the country's constitution
under pressure from the African Union and the West.
(Reuters, 11/19/14)

2014 The population of Burkina
Faso was about 17 million.
(Econ, 9/17/05, p.77)

2015 Mar 4, The government of
Burkina Faso ordered former president Thomas Sankara's corpse to be
exhumed, potentially rekindling controversy over the 1987
assassination of one of Africa's most idolized leaders.
(AFP, 3/5/15)